By EDWARD KEENAN Fri., May 12, 2017The world of insufferable neighbourhood snobbery moves fast. It can be hard to track the changing trends in what improvement to an area one is expected to protest.

Once upon a time, after all, the discerning gentry would decry a new Starbucks location. Not too long ago, some upstanding citizens in Cabbagetown drew a line in the sandbox over playground umbrellas that didn’t draw from the “heritage” colour palette. Up in the leafy prestige enclave of Lawrence Park this week, they mostly successfully fought off the proletarian scourge of sidewalks — ensuring another generation of refined children an authentic “Frogger” experience on their walks to school.

It’s hard out there for a snob, finding novel marks of supposed distinction to defend.

So full credit to some residents of the Junction Triangle, who proudly describe their neighbourhood as “gentrifying,” for landing on what I think is a new complaint. They started a petition — granted one which had only attracted 187 signatures by Friday afternoon — to protest the prospective indignity of being able to pay less for groceries.

At least that’s what I take to be the message of the petition, which protests a decision by the grocery company Metro Inc. regarding its tenancy in the base of the Fuse condo building at Lansdowne and Dupont. It seems that for a few years, they have had signs up indicating a Metro-branded grocery store would eventually open there. Now they have decided to instead open a location of Food Basics, their discount grocery chain.

“BRING BACK METRO I MOVED TO THIS AREA WITH THE PROMISE OF KNOWING A GOOD GROCERY STORE WAS COMING TO THIS UP AND COMING AREA,” another wrote. “FOOD BASICS WOULD BE A MAJOR STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION AND WOULD ONLY BRING THE KIND OF PEOPLE BACK TO THIS FLOURISHING PART OF OUR CITY!!”